Greek alphabet - definition of Greek alphabet by The Free Dictionary Greek alphabet - definition of Greek alphabet by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Thesaurus , Medical , Wikipedia .

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: Greek alphabet - the alphabet used by ancient Greeks alphabet - a character set that includes letters and is used to write a language alpha - the 1st letter of the Greek alphabet beta - the 2nd letter of the Greek alphabet gamma - the 3rd letter of the Greek alphabet delta - the 4th letter of the Greek alphabet epsilon - the 5th letter of the Greek alphabet zeta - the 6th letter of the Greek alphabet eta - the 7th letter of the Greek alphabet theta - the 8th letter of the Greek alphabet iota - the 9th letter of the Greek alphabet kappa - the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet lambda - the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet mu - the 12th letter of the Greek alphabet nu - the 13th letter of the Greek alphabet xi - the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet omicron - the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet pi - the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet rho - the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet sigma - the 18th letter of the Greek alphabet tau - the 19th letter of the Greek

 alphabet upsilon - the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet phi - the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet khi , chi - the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet psi - the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet omega - the last (24th) letter of the Greek alphabet Translations Lesson 2: The Greek Alphabet: more familiar than you think!

| EDSITEment Lesson 2: The Greek Alphabet: more familiar than you think! Tools Introduction "Omega" is the last letter in the Greek alphabet. And the Greeks took up the letters from the Phoenicians, and once they had changed their shape somewhat, they used them. And when they used them, they called them “Phoenicians”, as was just, since the Phoenicians brought the letters to Greece. —(Herodotus, History of the Persian Wars, 5.58.2) This second lesson of the curriculum unit, The Alphabet is Historic, is about the Greeks, who inherited the alphabet invented by the Phoenicians, and used it to write their great literature. Guiding Questions Who were the Greeks and where did they live? How did they come to inherit the Phoenician alphabet? Can we see that the Greek alphabet is starting to look more like our alphabet? What are some other things, besides the alphabet, that we inherited from the ancient Greeks? Learning Objectives After completing this lesson, students will be able to: Show that the Greeks and Phoenicians both lived on the shores of the Mediterranean. Tell that the Greeks learned the alphabet from Phoenician traders.

Say why the alphabet was important for the Greeks. Tell one or two other things, besides the alphabet, that we inherited from the ancient Greeks. Compare some Greek letters to our own letters. Do an art activity or write a short paragraph related to the Greek alphabet. Background Like the Phoenicians, the ancient Greeks lived in cities all over their rocky peninsula, and they also engaged in a lot of trade. But they were also unlike the Phoenicians in some ways, and in particular they had different forms of government. The Phoenicians had kings. But the Greeks passed through many different forms of government in their cities, and eventually the people at Athens invented democracy, which is rule by the people instead of by kings or nobles. The ancient Greeks also had a lot of other ideas and customs that are important for us: the Olympic games, for instance, began in ancient Greece. The reason we know about democracy in ancient Greece, or about the Olympic games, is that the ancient Greeks wrote all about them. Once the Greeks had an alphabet, it seems they could not stop writing. They pioneered many of the kinds of writing we consider standard today.

They wrote speeches, books about science and learning, plays, poems, and long histories of the things that happened to them. The alphabet was a very important part of Greek culture! Preparation Instructions Project the map of the Mediterranean region as you introduce Greece. Point out Greece and Athens on the map. Lesson Activities Activity 3. Art Activity: A Teacher and Student Vase Activity 1. Greek Alphabet Activity Begin the lesson on the Greek Alphabet by asking the students if they still remember the Phoenician traders who were trading purple cloth for olive oil at Athens. Ask the children: What would the Greeks think when they saw the Phoenician ship returning to Athens, a few weeks later, all loaded up with the stuff the Phoenicians had asked for in their letter? Do you think they would want to learn to write? You could tell them that the Greeks borrowed the Phoenician alphabet so that they could start writing down all the things that were important to them. At this point you could show the students the Greek alphabet . The Greek alphabet is about 2,700 years old. Nevertheless, there are many letters in the ancient Greek alphabet that you and your students will immediately recognize.

Show the children the letters A, B, E, I, K, M, N, O, S, and T. These Greek letters are essentially identical to the letters we use today. If your students are very young, or if time is lacking, it will be sufficient for this lesson to have shown the students that the alphabet was developing into the alphabet they know. But many students will also be interested in knowing about some of the letters they do not recognize. Included is a short explanation of a few of the differences between our alphabet and the ancient Greek alphabet: you might choose to use none of this, just a few points, or all of it, depending on your class and students. The following are some examples of how the Greek alphabet differs from the Roman alphabet we use: The third letter, for instance, which looks like an upside-down L, is Gamma, our G. The Greek G does not look anything like our G, and we say "ABC", not "ABG". Over time G got bumped from the third to the seventh place in the alphabet and also changed his shape to the round shape he wears today. The fourth letter (the one that looks like a triangle) is Delta. This letter is our D.

Over the years, D changed shape somewhat, but D got to keep his place as the fourth letter of the alphabet. Again, look at the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. That's Z! In the Greek alphabet Z was in the middle of the alphabet instead of at the end. But over time, the letter Z got bumped clear to the back. Two letters down from Z, after the "H", there is a letter that looks like a circle with a line inside of it. That is a Theta. That letter sounds a "th", and we don't have that letter at all anymore. We use two letters, T and H, to show that sound. In other words, letters don't only change, they also sometimes appear and disappear. These are a few examples of the many changes the alphabet underwent on its way from the Greeks to us. As with the Phoenician alphabet, the students might enjoy copying down some of the strange looking Greek letters, just to try them out. You might also point out that people living in Greece still use this alphabet for everything they write, just the way we use our alphabet.

The fact that the Greeks changed the Phoenician alphabet, or that the Romans changed the Greek alphabet, does not mean that either one was deficient, but only that each subsequent group needed to change the letters to accommodate their language and culture. Activity 2. Greek Vase Activity Show Greek vase Berlin F2285 . On this "image browser" page there are 19 thumbnail images of a Greek vase shaped like a large shallow bowl. The vase depicts a school and ancient Greek children learning in school. Click first on the thumbnail image called Side A: School. A large image will appear. As your students look at the image, point out that on this side of the vase a child is learning to read a poem, and another child is learning to play a Greek instrument called a lyre. Return to the image browser page. Now select the image called Side A: Teacher and Student with Writing Tablet. This is a close-up of the image you just looked at. Point out the paper in the teacher's hand: the letters are clearly visible. The teacher is showing the student a poem. The first word is spelled M-O-I-S-A.

It means “muse.” The poem is addressed to one of the muses, the goddesses of art and music. Point out to your students that they can recognize the Greek letters and learn to read a word. They can do this because our alphabet comes from the Greek alphabet, and so we still know some of the Greek letters. Congratulate the children on learning to read a Greek word! Return to the image browser page. Now select the image called Side B: Teacher and Student with Stylus. Here a teacher is showing a student how to write on a tablet. Or perhaps he is correcting the student's letters! Return again to the image browser page. Now select the image called Side A: Teacher and Student Practicing Lyre. Here a teacher and a student are practicing music together. Point out the prominent place of music in this depiction of school life. Music was a very important part of ancient Greek elementary education. Letter of the alphabet - definition of letter of the alphabet by The Free Dictionary Letter of the alphabet - definition of letter of the alphabet by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Thesaurus , Wikipedia . ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: Noun 1.

letter of the alphabet - the conventional characters of the alphabet used to represent speech; "his grandmother taught him his letters" spelling - forming words with letters according to the principles underlying accepted usage alphabet - a character set that includes letters and is used to write a language grapheme , graphic symbol , character - a written symbol that is used to represent speech; "the Greek alphabet has 24 characters" ascender - a lowercase letter that has a part extending above other lowercase letters descender - a lowercase letter that has a part extending below other lowercase letters digram , digraph - two successive letters (especially two letters used to represent a single sound: `sh' in `shoe') initial - the first letter of a word (especially a person's name); "he refused to put the initials FRS after his name" a - the 1st letter of the Roman alphabet b - the 2nd letter of the Roman alphabet c - the 3rd letter of the Roman alphabet d - the 4th letter of the Roman alphabet e - the 5th letter of the Roman alphabet f - the 6th letter of the Roman alphabet g - the 7th letter of the Roman alphabet h - the 8th letter of the Roman alphabet i -

 the 9th letter of the Roman alphabet j - the 10th letter of the Roman alphabet k - the 11th letter of the Roman alphabet l - the 12th letter of the Roman alphabet m - the 13th letter of the Roman alphabet n - the 14th letter of the Roman alphabet o - the 15th letter of the Roman alphabet p - the 16th letter of the Roman alphabet q - the 17th letter of the Roman alphabet r - the 18th letter of the Roman alphabet s - the 19th letter of the Roman alphabet t - the 20th letter of the Roman alphabet u - the 21st letter of the Roman alphabet v - the 22nd letter of the Roman alphabet double-u , w - the 23rd letter of the Roman alphabet x , ex - the 24th letter of the Roman alphabet wye , y - the 25th letter of the Roman alphabet ezed , izzard , zed , zee , z - the 26th letter of the Roman alphabet; "the British call Z zed and the Scots call it ezed but Americans call it zee"; "

he doesn't know A from izzard" alpha - the 1st letter of the Greek alphabet beta - the 2nd letter of the Greek alphabet gamma - the 3rd letter of the Greek alphabet delta - the 4th letter of the Greek alphabet epsilon - the 5th letter of the Greek alphabet zeta - the 6th letter of the Greek alphabet eta - the 7th letter of the Greek alphabet theta - the 8th letter of the Greek alphabet iota - the 9th letter of the Greek alphabet kappa - the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet lambda - the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet mu - the 12th letter of the Greek alphabet nu - the 13th letter of the Greek alphabet xi - the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet omicron - the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet pi - the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet rho - the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet sigma - the 18th letter of the Greek alphabet tau - the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet upsilon - the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet phi - the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet

 khi , chi - the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet psi - the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet omega - the last (24th) letter of the Greek alphabet aleph - the 1st letter of the Hebrew alphabet beth - the 2nd letter of the Hebrew alphabet gimel - the 3rd letter of the Hebrew alphabet daleth - the 4th letter of the Hebrew alphabet he - the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet waw - the 6th letter of the Hebrew alphabet zayin - the 7th letter of the Hebrew alphabet heth - the 8th letter of the Hebrew alphabet teth - the 9th letter of the Hebrew alphabet yodh - the 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet kaph - the 11th letter of the Hebrew alphabet lamedh - the 12th letter of the Hebrew alphabet mem - the 13th letter of the Hebrew alphabet nun - the 14th letter of the Hebrew alphabet samekh - the 15th letter of the Hebrew alphabet ayin - the 16th letter of the Hebrew alphabet pe - the 17th letter of the Hebrew alphabet sadhe - the

 18th letter of the Hebrew alphabet qoph - the 19th letter of the Hebrew alphabet Letters of the Latin Alphabet The Greek Alphabet The Romans Started With > Latin Alphabet Changes The Greeks modified a Semitic alphabet [but see What was the first alphabet?

] and passed it on to the people of Italy. Modified, the Greek letters became the alphabet of the Romans at some point before 600 B.C. One of the oddities of the Romans' alphabet in comparison with the Greeks' is that the third sound of the Greek alphabet is a g-sound: 1. Greek: 1st Letter = Alpha Α, 2nd = Beta Β, 3rd = Gamma Γ... whereas in the Latin alphabet, the third letter is a C, while the 6th letter of the Latin alphabet is a G. 2. Latin: 1st Letter = A, 2nd = B, 3rd = C, 4th = D, 5th = E, 6th = G This is a result of changes to the Latin alphabet over time. An early version of the alphabet used by some ancient people of Italy included the letter zeta. Zeta is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet, following alpha (Roman A), beta (Roman B), gamma (Roman C), delta (Roman D), and epsilon (Roman E). continue reading below our video What are the Seven Wonders of the World 3.

Greek: Alpha Α, Beta Β, Gamma Γ, Delta Δ, Epsilon Ε, Zeta Ζ Where zeta (Ζ or ζ) was used in Italy, it kept its 6th place. The third letter of the Latin alphabet was a C, as in English. This "C" could be pronounced hard, like a K. In linguistics, this c/k sound may be referred to as a voiceless velar plosive. Not only the C, but also the letter K, in the Roman alphabet, was pronounced like a K (again, hard or voiceless velar plosive). Like the word initial K in English, the Latin K was rarely used. Usually -- perhaps, always -- the vowel A followed K, as in Kalendae 'Kalends' (referring to the first day of the month), from which we get the English word calendar. The use of the C was less restricted than the K. You can find a Latin C before any vowel. The same third letter of the Latin alphabet, C, also served the Romans for the sound of G -- a reflection of its origin in the Greek gamma (Γ or γ). 4.

Latin: The letter C = sound of K or G (Voiceless or Voiced Velar Stop [Plosive]) The difference is not so great as it looks since the difference between K and G is what's referred to linguistically as a difference in voicing: the G sound is the voiced version of the K (this K is the hard C, as in "card" [the soft C is pronounced like the c in cell, as "suh" and not relevant here]). Both are velar plosives, but the G is voiced and the K is not. At some period, the Romans seem not to have paid attention to this voicing, so the praenomen Caius is an alternative spelling of Gaius; both are abbreviated C. [See: How to Read a Roman Name .] When the velar plosives (C and G sounds) were separated and given different letter forms, the second C was given a tail, making it a G, and moved to the sixth place in the Latin alphabet, where the Greek letter zeta would have been, if it had been a productive letter for the Romans. It was not.

The Latin alphabet had 21 letters in the first century B.C., but then, as the Romans became Hellenized, they added two letters at the end of the alphabet, a Y for the Greek upsilon, and a Z for the Greek zeta, which had no equivalent in the Latin language*. 5. Latin: a.) Early Alphabet: A B C D E F H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X; b.) Later Alphabet: A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X; c.) Still Later: A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z Sources: "On the Origins of the Latin Alphabet: Modern Views, by Arthur E. Gordon. California Studies in Classical Antiquity, Vol. 2, (1969), pp. 157-170. *"Transliteration or Transcription of Greek," by Gerald P. Verbrugghe. The Classical World, Vol. 92, No. 6 (Jul. - Aug., 1999), pp. 499-511. "Review by D.

M. Jones of L'alfabeto e pronunzia del latino." The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 8, No. 3/4 (Dec., 1958), pp. 292-293. THE GREEK ALPHABET THE GREEK ALPHABET It is helpful to have a knowledge of the Greek alphabet and language to appreciate the nuances of meaning in the Greek Septuagint Old Testament and the Greek New Testament of the Bible. Reading the Greek text allows one to capture the full impact of what the Gospel writer is hoping to convey in his narrative. Here are three examples. Perhaps the best example of this is St. Paul's famous passage on love in his First Letter to the Corinthians. There are four Greek words for love! Which one is St. Paul referring to? στοργή - storge refers to the natural affection parents have for their children; ἔρως - eros is romantic love; φιλία - philia is friendship; and ἀγάπη - agape is unconditional love, the love God has for us. St. Paul employs the word agape!

A second example is the pivotal passage in the Gospel of Luke when Jesus begins his journey to Jerusalem (9:51), the place where he will be taken up. The Greek text fully dramatizes this event by expressing the determination of Jesus, reading "As the day was approaching for his Ascension, he πρόσωπον ἐστήρισεν - set his face on Jerusalem." Thus begins the journey to Jerusalem where he will accomplish his mission by redeeming mankind through the sacrifice of the Cross. The journey also provides an avenue to teach his disciples, those who follow Jesus on the way to Jerusalem. Discipleship in Luke is conveyed by the verb ἀκολουθέω - I follow, a form of which occurs nineteen times throughout the Gospel, such as the key sentence of Luke 9:23, "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and ἀκολουθείτω μοι - let him follow me." The third example is the word witness in the Acts of the Apostles.

Jesus tells the disciples ἔσεσθέ μου μάρτυρες, you shall be my witnesses. St. Luke expresses discipleship in the Acts of the Apostles by the word witness, a form of which (nominative singular μάρτυς and plural μάρτυρες) occurs twenty-four times throughout Acts. The disciples will become the witnesses of the Teachings, Cross, and Resurrection of Jesus, and will carry out his mission as his witnesses to the "ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Our English word martyr is a direct translation of the Greek word for witness. The martyr is the ultimate Christian witness! The Greek alphabet was derived from the Phoenician alphabet . Phoenicia (now Lebanon) was a peaceful sea-faring nation expert in navigation and trade that developed their alphabet around 1400 BC in an effort to communicate with their diverse trading partners that encircled the Mediterranean Sea.

It was the Phoenician alphabet that was widely received and readily adapted in Greece and throughout the Mediterranean, as it was only 22 letters based on sound, as opposed to the myriad of symbols in cuneiform and hieroglyphics prevalent at the time. The Greek alphabet contains 24 letters. The form of Greek used by writers from Homer (the Iliad and the Odyssey) about 700 BC to Plato (The Republic) in 360 BC, is called Classical Greek. There were three dialects to classical Greek, Doric, Aeolic, and Ionic (of which Attic is a derivation). Alexander the Great, who was tutored by Aristotle, spoke Attic Greek and conquered the East, spreading the Greek language throughout the Mediterranean world and beyond. Thus began the Hellenistic Age. Hebrew Scripture was translated into Greek in Alexandria and became known as the Greek Septuagint. A common Greek language arose among the people and became known as Koine Greek (κοινή, the word meaning "common"). Greek in the Holy Land was heavily interpenetrated by native Semitic languages, such as Aramaic and Hebrew.

This likely explains the variant spellings in the Greek New Testament for words such as Jerusalem (Ἰερουσαλήμ, Ἱεροσόλυμα), Nazareth (Ναζαρὰ, Ναζαρέτ, Ναζαρὲθ), and Nazarene (Ναζαρηνέ, Ναζωραῖος). No original manuscript by the author of a biblical book has yet been uncovered! Koine Greek was the language used by writers of the Old Testament Greek Septuagint and the Greek New Testament. The original Greek New Testament was written in all capital letters, without spaces, punctuation, accents or diacritical marks. A major contribution of Greek culture was the addition of vowels to the development of our alphabet. Vowels are formed by unimpeded airflow through the airway when the vowel sound is produced. The seven Greek vowels are α - alpha, ε - epsilon, η - eta, ι - iota, ο - omicron, υ - upsilon, and ω - omega.

Please note that the letter s has two forms σ and ς, the second form ς occurring at the end of a word. Consonants are formed when airflow is blocked completely (a stop) or partially when a sound is made. The labials are pronounced by impeding the flow of air through closure of the lips and are π - pi, β - beta, and φ - phi. The dentals are actually pronounced by the placing of the tongue on the alveolar ridge behind the teeth and are τ - tau, δ - delta, and θ - theta. The palatals or velars (soft palate) are formed by impeding the flow of air with the tongue moving upwards against the palate, and are κ - kappa, γ - gamma, and χ - chi. The liquids are formed by air flowing through the mouth around the tongue and are λ - lambda and ρ - rho. The nasals are formed with air flowing through the nose and are μ - mu and ν - nu. The sibilants are formed through a narrow channel with the tongue shaped lengthwise, directing air over the edge of the teeth, and are σ - sigma and ζ - zeta.

The final two, ξ - xsi and ψ - psi, involve formation of two letters and are called double consonants. Stops have major implications in the formation of nouns and verbs. A voiced sound is one in which the vocal cords vibrate when the sound is made; you can tell by putting your fingers on the voice box and pronouncing a voiced letter, such as delta. A voiceless sound is one in which the vocal cords do not vibrate. Aspiration is a breath of air that follows the initial part of a sound; for example, by putting your hand in front of your mouth, you can feel a burst of air when saying phi. Stop δ θ The letter gamma γ is pronounced as a hard g, as in golf, but before another gamma γ, kappa κ, xi ξ, or chi χ, the gamma is pronounced as n, and is called a gamma nasal. For example, ἄγγελος is pronounced angelos, the word for angel. The letter zeta ζ is pronounced as our z at the beginning of a word, as in zinc, but within a word as dz, as in adze.

Of the seven vowels, two vowels, η - eta, and ω - omega are always long; two vowels, ε - epsilon, and ο - omicron are always short; and three vowels can be either long or short: α - alpha, ι - iota, and υ - upsilon. Long vowels take approximately twice as long to pronounce as short vowels. When short iota follows the long vowels alpha, eta, and omega (in lower case), the iota is written beneath them as an iota subscript, and appears as ᾳ, ῃ, or ῳ. This may occur in the dative singular (see below); when this is seen, the iota is not pronounced. Upsilon υ as a capital letter is Υ. Ιn transliteration upsilon is generally represented by y, except when it is part of a diphthong, it is represented as u . A diphthong is a pair of vowels that make one sound, as we have in English: aisle, neighbor, oil, jaunt, though. The second vowel is always an ι or υ. Diphthongs are considered long.

The following image indicates the pronunciation of each Greek vowel and diphthong: Capital letters today are used only for proper names, the beginning of paragraphs, and the first word of a quotation. Every Biblical Greek word that begins with a vowel takes a breathing mark, either rough or smooth. Greek has an h sound, which occurs only at the beginning of some words, and is expressed by the dasia or rough breathing mark ῾. The rough breathing mark is placed above the initial vowel of a word and pronounced before the vowel sound. When a word is capitalized, the rough breathing is written before the initial vowel. Every word that begins with rho or an upsilon takes a rough breathing mark, but the h is generally not pronounced with rho (as in English - rhetoric). In words that begin with a vowel and lack an h sound, the absence of the h is represented by the psili or smooth breathing mark ᾿. In words that begin with a diphthong, the breathing mark is placed over the second vowel of the diphthong. VOCABULARY The following chart contains 50 Greek words from the New Testament.

The lexical form of the word is listed, nouns in the nominative singular, verbs in the present indicative first person singular. The biblical examples are often in the lexical form. The fundamental part of a word, which conveys the essential idea of a word and remains after the word has been analyzed into all its component parts, is called a root. A Greek word has as many syllables as it has vowels or diphthongs. Biblical Greek is polytonic, for it has breathing marks, and three accents which were once used for musical pitch but in time indicated stress in a word: acute (oxia) ´, grave (varia) `, and circumflex (perispomeni) ῀. A careful study of the transliteration of the Greek words should give one an appreciation of the pronunciation of the Greek letters and vowels. The words themselves will help you in reading Scripture. THE GREEK LANGUAGE Greek is written from left to right as Latin, the Romance and English languages. The Greek language is characterized by a high degree of inflection. Each Greek word actually changes form (inflection) based upon the role that it plays in the sentence.

A Greek noun is composed of the stem, which conveys the meaning, and the case ending. The inflection of a noun is called its declension, and nouns are declined. There are three patterns of declension to Greek nouns: stems ending in alpha or eta are in the first declension, those ending in omicron are second declension, and stems ending in a consonant are third declension. Case endings are the way the Greek language designates the function of a noun (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, vocative), the gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter), and the number (singular or plural). Case marks the relationship of the noun to the verb. Word order in Greek is primarily used for emphasis, balance, contrast, or variety. For example, when Κύριος, the Greek word for Lord, is the subject (nominative case), as "the Lord blessed the crowd," the word keeps its lexical form as above and is spelled in transliteration as Kyrios. When the Lord is possessive (genitive case), as "the Lord's supper or the Lord's prayer," the word is spelled Κύριου.

When the Lord is the indirect object (dative case), as "Philip brought bread to the Lord," it is spelled as Kyrioi; the omicron lengthens to omega, and the iota subscripts in the dative singular, to form Κυρίῳ. When the Lord is the direct object (accusative case), as "the Father sent the Lord," it is spelled Κύριον. When the Lord is addressed (vocative case), as "Lord, Lord, please forgive me," the word is spelled Kύριε, as in the hymnal Kyrie Eleison. The following chart lists the case endings for Κύριος, a second declension noun in the masculine singular. Thus in the following Biblical passage from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans, Lord must be the direct object or in the accusative case. A Greek verb describes the action or state of being in a sentence, and is primarily composed of the verb root, to which are added various affixes. The addition of prefixes, infixes, and/or suffixes forms each particular stem and personal ending. The verb stem expresses the basic meaning of the verb and indicates tense and mood.

The personal endings convey voice, person and number in agreement with its subject. The inflection of a verb is called its conjugation, and verbs are said to be conjugated. Tense expresses aspect or the kind of action, either continuous, undefined, or the completion of an action; tense expresses both aspect and time (present, past, future) in the indicative mood. The Greek verb has seven tenses in the indicative mood: present, future, aorist (see below), perfect, imperfect, pluperfect, and future perfect. Voice is either active, middle, or passive. In the active voice, the person performs the action, as "the teacher taught the students." In the passive voice, the subject is acted upon, as "the students were taught by the teacher." There is also middle voice, in which the subject of the verb does the action, but the action somehow affects the subject, as in self-interest, such as "I defend myself." The mood of a verb may be indicative (the most common), a statement of fact, reality, or actual occurrence; imperative, a command; subjunctive, a contemplated, possible, or probable action; or optative, a wish or hope.

There are three principal parts to an English verb: the present tense, the simple past, and the past participle. Examples are "bless, blessed, blessed," or "sing, sang, sung." The Greek language has six principal parts or tense forms to a verb. The principal parts of a verb are a standard set of related forms from which you can provide the correct stem for each particular verb to express tense, voice, mood, person, and number. All possible forms of a Greek verb, including infinitives and participles, are inflected from a stem derived from one of these six principal parts. Here are the six principal parts of the verb λύω, a regular verb which means "I loose, untie, free, release," or (2) "I destroy," and in which the verb root λυ is consistent throughout: Principal Part: I have been loosed I was loosed To conjugate a verb, for example, take the first principal part of the verb I have - ἔχω, which serves as the lexical or dictionary form of the verb.

The present tense stem is formed by removing the omega, and in combination with the connecting or thematic vowel and the primary active personal endings, one is given the following conjugation of the present active indicative of the verb ἔχω: Pertinent to the Greek verbal system is the aorist tense. The aorist presents an occurrence in summary. Its very name means ἀ- (without) ὅρος (boundary, limit), an indeterminate or undefined action. The aorist describes an action without specifying its duration. The first three of the four verbs in the following Biblical passage from St. Paul to the Romans are in the aorist tense. The first two, confess and believe, are in the aorist subjunctive second person singular. In the indicative mood, the aorist generally expresses a simple action in past time, as the third verb raised, which is in the aorist indicative third person singular.

The fourth verb, in the future passive second person singular, provides reassurance: "you will be saved!" As we learn from the last-minute conversion of the good thief in the Gospel of Luke 23:42-43, the Lord is loving, merciful, and patient - his forgiveness and salvation are available in the event of our conversion until the end! SCRIPTURE READING REFERENCES 1 Minto A. Pauline Soteriology. Course Lectures and Texts, Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio, 2005. 2 Caneday AB. Biblical Greek I and II. Course Notes, Northwestern College, St. Paul, Minnesota, 2009, 2011. 3 Mounce WD. Basics of Biblical Greek. Grammar and Workbook, Third Edition. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2009. 4 Hansen H and Quinn GM. Greek - An Intensive Course. Attic Greek. Fordham University Press, New York, 1992. 5 Zerwick M and Grosvenor M. Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament.

Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico, Rome, 1996. 6 Aland B, Aland K, Karavidopoulos J, Martini CM, Metzger B. The Greek New Testament, 4th Revised Edition. United Bible Societies, New York, 1993. 7 Bauer W. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Second Edition (BAGD). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1979. 8 New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament. 4th Corrected Edition, United Bible Society and NRSV. Trans: Brown RK and Comfort PW. Tyndale House, Wheaton, Ill., 1990. 9 Spicq C. Theological Lexicon of the New Testament. 3 volumes, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, 1994. 10 Wallace DB. Greek Grammar Beyond The Basics. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1996. The Greek Alphabet Little Greek 101: The Greek Alphabet This table gives the Greek letters, their names, equivalent English letters, and tips for pronouncing those letters which are pronounced differently from the equivalent English letters.

(There are actually several acceptable ways to pronounce New Testament Greek. For the gory details, look here .) Sigma (s, V):There are two forms for the letter Sigma. When written at the end of a word, it is written like this: V. If it occurs anywhere else, it is written like this: s. Upsilon (u):In the above table, we suggest that you pronounce this letter like "u" in "put". The preferred pronunciation is actually more like the German "ü" as in "Brücke", or like the French "u" as in "tu". If you do not speak German or French, don't worry about it, just pronounce it the way the table suggests. Xi (c): This is the same sound as "ch" in "Bach", which does not sound like "ch" in "chair". The same sound occurs in the Scottish "Loch", as in "Loch Lomond", or the German "ach!". Dipthongs When two vowels combine to make one sound, it is called a dipthong. There are seven dipthongs in Greek: The "eu" combination is probably the hardest to learn for most people.

It may help to take the "ow" sound and say it slowly: if you notice, there are actually two sounds in "ow" - it starts out with "ah", then glides to an "oo" sound, "ah-oo". Try doing the same with "e" (as in "edward") and "oo" - "e-oo". This is a little like the "e-w" in Edward, if you remove the "d". Clip and save! You may want to print out this table and glue it to the inside cover of your Greek dictionary. If you are ever in doubt about alphabetic order, this will help you look up words. If you have difficulty with pronunciation, you could also print it out and glue it to the inside of your Greek New Testament. Accents Accents tell you which syllable is stressed when the word is pronounced. There are three different accents, but by the time of the New Testament, they were all pronounced the same. Here are the three kinds of accents, with a Greek word to illustrate each: Breathings The rough breathing is pronounced like an "h", and looks like a backwards comma written over a vowel.

The smooth breathing is not pronounced at all, and looks like a regular comma written over a vowel. Note the difference between "en" and "hen": There are two marks over the epsilon in "hen"; the first is the rough breathing, the second is the accent. Iota subscripts A vowel at the end of a word will sometimes have an "iota subscript" underneath it; here is an alpha with an iota subscript: The iota subscript is not pronounced, but it can be helpful for identifying certain grammatical forms that we will learn about later (especially the dative case). Punctuation The period and comma are the same as in English. The semicolon is a raised dot, and is also used as a colon. The question mark looks like an English semicolon: Vocabulary for this lesson: Mnemonics for alphabetic order Did you ever dream of working as a file clerk in ancient Greece? No? Well, did you ever dream of being able to look up words in a Greek dictionary? In either case, you are going to have to learn the order of the Greek alphabet.

I've made up a mnemonic which may be helpful for some people: a b g d e All Bigots Get Diarrhea Eventually z h q i k Zorro Ate THe Ice Kap(pa) l m n x o Let's Munch Nuts EXcessively, Okay? p r s t u f c y w Under Five CHairs, PSychiatrists Wink If you use this mnemonic, remember that "Chairs" is not really the way to pronounce c, which sounds like "ch" in "Bach". Some people prefer to learn the order based on differences from the order of the English alphabet: a b g d e Same as English, except for the gamma z h q i Memorize these, or use the mnemonic from the above table. How to write Greek letters The arrows show you where to start when you write Greek letters. Always remember to write the accents and breathing marks , as well as the iota subscripts ! (back to text) Footnote 1: Other pronunciation schemes To be fair, we should mention that there are several different ways to pronounce Greek. We are teaching the Erasmian pronunciation for now. At some point in the future, we may add pages to teach some of the other pronunciations.

Here are the main ways that Greek is pronounced: Erasmian pronunciation. This is the pronunciation used here, and is probably based on the pronunciation used by a Renaissance scholar named Erasmus, who was the main force behind the first printed copies of the Greek New Testament. The Erasmian pronunciation is probably different from the way Greek was pronounced at the time of the New Testament, but it is widespread among scholars, and it has the advantage that every letter is pronounced, which makes it easy to grasp the spelling of words. Modern Greek pronunciation. This is the way Greek is pronounced today in Greece. Some people prefer to teach this pronunciation for New Testament Greek as well. I initially learned the modern Greek pronunciation, but had difficulty learning to spell words, so I switched to the Erasmian. Modern Greek pronunciation is probably more similar to New Testament Greek pronunciation than Erasmian is, but not identical. Reconstructed New Testament Greek pronunciation. There are some scholarly books which attempt to reconstruct the original pronunciation of New Testament Greek, and they have reached the point that there seems to be fairly widespread agreement on the original pronunciation. As far as I know, nobody ever teaches this pronunciation.

Incidentally, since there was a large variety of Greek dialects, there was no single way to pronounce Greek even in the New Testament era. Fraternity, Physics, and Calculus pronunciation. This is the way your physics teacher spoke Greek, and he learned this pronunciation in his fraternity. Next time you hear a physics teacher pronounce Greek, laugh and look superior.

Question: What is the third letter of the Greek alphabet
Answer: Gamma